Making shiny PVD matt

[mastergod]

Hi all,

I have a 5218 201A with standard rep PVD - you know, the erroneously shiny kind of PVD. Bought it before I became a member of RWG and found out about DSN and other "gen-looking" PVD.

The watch is just gathering dust so I

[ubiquitous]

The case surface prior to being PVD'd is what ultimately determines it's appearance once coated. i.e. if you have a shiney, polished case and you PVD it, you get a shiney PVD case as a result. If you media blast the case prior, you get the matte finish as a result.

Not sure that there is anything you can do to turn the finish on your watch to a matte finish if your case is actual PVD.

[mastergod]

The case surface prior to being PVD'd is what ultimately determines it's appearance once coated. i.e. if you have a shiney, polished case and you PVD it, you get a shiney PVD case as a result. If you media blast the case prior, you get the matte finish as a result.

Not sure that there is anything you can do to turn the finish on your watch to a matte finish if your case is actual PVD.

Thanks. It

[MADRED7]

I assume you do not have a watch that is PVD

[jkirke]

I had the same kind of PVD coating on my 111H. It was from TWP when he was still in business. Someone over at RWG recommended buffing it with a Cape Cod Cloth. I did it, and sure as sh!t, it worked.

Still doesn't look as nice as DSN's, but it's no longer shiny. Looks really really good. A nice matte finish to it now.

hope this helps.

cheers

[dluddy]

A Cape Cod polishing will make it a little better but to be honest, there is not much you can do because as Ubi said....The case was polished before PVD.

I have tried and in the end gave up and have another case being PVD'd to replace...

[HauteHippie]

In the coming weeks I'm probably going to send an already PVD'd case to avitt for bead blasting... My hope is that it does not remove material (avitt says it is quite gentle) and that it'll be able to turn a shiny PVD into a matte PVD. We will see. It is probably a long shot, but the case isn't usable as is anyhow.

[mastergod]

In the coming weeks I'm probably going to send an already PVD'd case to avitt for bead blasting... My hope is that it does not remove material (avitt says it is quite gentle) and that it'll be able to turn a shiny PVD into a matte PVD. We will see. It is probably a long shot, but the case isn't usable as is anyhow.

Yeah probably a longshot but interesting nevertheless. Good luck, let us know how it goes -

MG

[mastergod]

Update -

Got some sand paper and started rubbing away on my bling-pvd.

Interestingly, I got a quite convincing gen-PVD look using the sand paper (but wasn

[fakemaster]

With a buffer and the right materials it can be done. It just takes time.

[Guest avitt]

In the coming weeks I'm probably going to send an already PVD'd case to avitt for bead blasting... My hope is that it does not remove material (avitt says it is quite gentle) and that it'll be able to turn a shiny PVD into a matte PVD. We will see. It is probably a long shot, but the case isn't usable as is anyhow.

I have a little update here...I tried to bead blast one of my DLC coated cases with fine glass beads, and it had no effect whatsoever. No change in the color or texture of the coating.

Now, I can't say what will happen if I try to blast a rep PVD finish. The fact that rep PVD can be modified with sandpaper and Cape Cod cloth indicates that the finish is very different from the DLC that I've been working with. So there's still a possibility that bead blasting could work on rep PVD. It's also possible that more aggressive media, like aluminum oxide, might have the desired effect.

[owdeguy]

Just an FYI, I recently bead blasted a gen Porsche Design PVD chronograph. The PVD was in poor shape and my intent was to blast it all off as it looked like it was painted, it in fact was not painted, just 25 year old PVD showing the wear of photojournalist wearing it to hell and back. Have a look.

Anyway, while blasting this case, I did notice that part way through the process I had blasted the remaining PVD into a new soft bead finished PVD that was very similar in look and feel to a davidsen PVD case. I didn't take any pics unfortunately as my goal was a pure bead blasted finish and I was part way through the work. The finished bead blasting was quite pleasing and the watch came out excellent.

I do believe that with a fine media that isn't at full velocity, ie very close to the gun, a blasting of the PVD surface could be made to happen. The key however is how much PVD you have depthwise to start with.....

Edited October 27, 2008 by owdeguy

[sssurfer]

Buffer, sandpaper, pastes, and so, have no chance. You will end up by either removing the coat, or little or no effect.

Beadblasting is an interesting experiment. But I would assign about 20% chance to work.

A matter of good luck.

[Logan]

Bead blasting isn't really intended to remove material, its mostly used industrially to harden a surface, basically by pummeling the surface with round balls, rather than abrading it like sand or grit blasting does.. having said that PVD is a very thin and very hard coating. If the underlying metal deforms in any way its likely the PVD will flake off. If the base metal is hard enough it might work..

Wouldn't it be easier to remove the coating and have it redone after you're refinished the case to your liking?